Stacey Armato, a Hermosa Beach attorney who sued the Transportation Security Administration after she claimed officers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport harassed her four years ago over her son Lorenzo's breast milk, has won a tentative settlement against the agency. Armato and her son Lorenzo in 2010. (Photo courtesy Stacey Armato)

A Hermosa Beach woman who sued the Transportation Security Administration after she claimed officers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport harassed her four years ago over her son’s breast milk has won a tentative legal settlement against the agency, she said Tuesday.

Stacey Armato sued in federal court in Phoenix after a 2010 incident in which she asked the TSA to provide an alternate form of screening that would not expose her 7-month-old son’s breast milk to radiation. During the incident, Armato claimed in court papers, she was forced to wait in a glass enclosure for more than 40 minutes while she was “frequently harassed and abused by the TSA agents.”

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, which should become official within the next month, the TSA will take steps to retrain its officers on proper breast milk-screening procedures, Armato said. The agency also will pay her $75,000, which she plans to use for her legal fees and to donate to BreastfeedLA, a group dedicated to promoting breast-feeding across the region.

“Moms can now travel more confidently with their breast milk,” Armato said. “It’s a big day for breast-feeding moms.”

Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the TSA, declined to comment on the lawsuit. He cited current TSA policies that permit mothers to travel with breast milk in quantities greater than 3 ounces as long as “it is presented for inspection at the security checkpoint.” The milk does not necessarily need to go through the X-ray machine to satisfy the inspection requirement.

But Armato said screeners are not always aware of the agency’s rules. In her lawsuit, she claimed that she has had more than one run-in with TSA employees in Phoenix. In a January 2010 incident highlighted in the complaint, Armato said it took screeners 40 minutes to clarify TSA policy before they eventually allowed her to proceed past the checkpoint without putting her milk through the X-ray machine. After that incident, Armato filed a formal administrative complaint against the Phoenix screeners.

About a week later, according to the complaint, Armato, on her way to Los Angeles, returned to the same screening checkpoint. In the complaint, Armato alleged that the screeners were aware that she had filed a complaint against them. Armato claims the screeners then sought to retaliate against her.

During that incident, according to the complaint, the TSA even called in Phoenix police officers to investigate why she was not complying with agency regulations.

“The TSA agents at this specific security checkpoint decided to make an example and humiliate plaintiff for filing a complaint against them the week prior,” the complaint stated.

Armato said she was especially pleased with the tentative settlement because, at first, she could find no lawyers to represent her.

“It was really intimidating,” said Armato, a lawyer herself. “A lot of attorneys didn’t want to take on the USA.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.